Anany: A presidential mandate to complete GEM by 2020

CAIRO – 12 January 2019: Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled Anany said that the ministry is in contact with the global auction houses to recover any Egyptian artifacts abroad, pointing out that the ministry in 2018 recovered artifacts from 5 countries and in 2015 retrieved artifacts from Israel.

Anany added in his speech on the sidelines of the tour of the parliament’s Culture, Media and Antiquities committee in the Grand Egyptian Museum that the Antiquities law recently approved by the Parliament includes the non-waive of any artifact.
Anany pointed out that the Grand Egyptian Museum is the largest cultural project in the world.

The Egyptian Minister of Antiquities added that there is a presidential mandate to inaugurate the Grand Egyptian Museum by 2020 and execute all its establishment procedures with high efficiency, pointing out that there are 8000 workers working on the implementation of the Grand Egyptian Museum 24 hours daily.

The vice Chairman of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority and supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum project Atef Moftah explained that the Grand Egyptian Museum will contain 6 exhibition halls, in addition to two children's showrooms and a theater that was designed in the form of ancient Roman theaters, with a total area of 500 meters.

Moftah stressed on the importance of making an integrated plan between the all the ministries to market this huge project.

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is one of the largest archaeological museums in the world. Thousands of artifacts will be displayed during and after its launching, which will attract many tourists from around the world.

The museum is built on a land area of 117 acres. The project’s foundation was laid in February 2002. Construction of the mega project began in May 2005. A total of 100,000 artifacts are being restored to be displayed in the GEM.Furthermore, the GEM consists of 19 restoration labs, making it the largest artifact restoration center in the world.

In addition, the GEM consist one of the biggest artifact documentation units for selected artifacts worldwide. Some of the artifacts planned to be displayed in the GEM date back to the pre-Pharaonic dynasties era (pre-family era).

King Ramses statue was placed in the GEM’s lobby entrance to welcome the visitors. It is worth mentioning that the façade of the museum is coated with alabaster stones. Also, the walls of the GEM overlooking the Pyramids will have a glass panoramic view.

GEM’s lobby will host the statue of King Rameses II and the column of his son King Merneptah; the grand staircase will include 87 royal statues and large architectural elements, including statues of kings Khafre, Menkaure, Senusret, Akhenaten and Amenhotep III.